Does eating back your calories really work?!

Maldivesbeachbodplease
Maldivesbeachbodplease Posts: 444
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all,

So my limit on here is 1220 calories. I am fine eating at that as at the weekends i eat more (1600-1800). I have started exercising and i think it may have made me more hungry plus it is due TOTM (lovely hormones!).

So the last couple of days i have eaten a little bit more...and then done exercise to burn off the extra i have eaten.

Will i still lose weight this way or am i defeating the object of exercising?! thank you xxx

Replies

  • melsinct
    melsinct Posts: 3,512 Member
    I ate exercise calories and lost 30 pounds. I am now maintaining and still eating exercise calories. People get all militant on these message boards about eating them or not eating them. Do what works for you (people have had success eating them and also not eating them) but be logical. You WILL NOT gain weight if you are in a calorie deficit. So you can eat exercise calories and not gain weight.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    As long as you're eating at a calorie deficit you'll lose weight. Remember, MFP includes a built-in calorie deficit whether you exercise or not so you should eat back your extra earned calories, but don't overestimate the calorie burn from exercise just so you can eat more.
  • angie_sample
    angie_sample Posts: 190
    i've lost a total of 71 pounds i lost the majority of those simple eating 1200 calories a day no matter how much i exercised. My weight loss has slowed down and i recently started eating back exercise calories and i lost and my weight loss has speed up again. like the PP said, u really have to find out what works for u, keep eating back ur calories and see how ur results turn out. Oh and when its that TOTM for me i actually eat a little extra, and still lose weight. I cant have an empty stomach at all during that time, i get queasy really easily especially on an empty stomach during TOTM. Good luck! :)
  • 2wiceOver
    2wiceOver Posts: 38
    If I didn't eat my exercise calories, I would starve. I burn off 750+ calories per day. So if I didn't I would be netting ~500 calories per day which would literally starve me.

    EDIT: Just an FYI I'm down 71 pounds today. So, it works for me anyway.
  • CoderGal
    CoderGal Posts: 6,800 Member
    I tend to eat some back. I have my days where there's huge gaps in my eating times for reasons of life and don't feel like gorging myself at night sometimes. But for the most part I eat them back. It works, see the badge :P
  • neverstray
    neverstray Posts: 3,845 Member
    http://shouldieatmyexercisecalories.com/
  • Brea_81
    Brea_81 Posts: 36 Member
    I imagine it varies by person, but I've been using MFP for 9 days, and usually eat about 1/2 of my exercise calories. I've lost 6lbs so far. :)
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,222 Member
    Everything I do is already accounted for in my deficit, so I don't worry about it.

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